(Louisville) American Scottie Scheffler was handcuffed in the back seat of a police car at dawn. Six hours later, he delivered a remarkable 66 (-5) to stay in the fight at the PGA Players Championship on Friday.
After signing a record round of 62 the day before, his compatriot Xander Schauffele had to settle for par during the last seven holes. His card of 68 nevertheless placed him in the lead at 130 (-12), one shot ahead of another American, Collin Morikawa (65).
Morikawa made five consecutive birdies in this round.
Tiger Woods (77) made two triple bogeys and was eliminated. He finished with a cumulative score of 149 (+7).
All these results, however, were just footnotes at the end of a day that was beyond comprehension.
“I’m still dizzy,” Scheffler said.
Scheffler, ranked number one in the world, was heading to Valhalla around 6 a.m. when he found himself in a traffic jam, unaware that a pedestrian had been fatally struck by a bus. He was arrested after being unable to follow police instructions.
He nevertheless played a round worthy of his talent despite the circumstances.
“As far as the best rounds of my career go, I would say it was pretty good,” Scheffler said. I certainly never imagined going to jail, and I certainly never would have imagined going to jail the morning before one of my departures, that’s for sure. »
Morikawa, who was in the mix for the Masters Tournament, is back in the race. If his tee shots helped him, it was his putting that allowed him to believe he could fight until the end.
“I know I still have it in me, and that’s what’s exciting,” he said. After Augusta, it sucked to finish like that and it sucked to lose to Scottie, but at the end of the day I knew I had three more majors to come. »
The day, which was delayed by 80 minutes due to the events of the morning, ended because of darkness. The cutoff, which won’t be official until Saturday, is currently at -1, which would be a record for the PGA Championship.
Canadians Adam Svensson (69), Adam Hadwin (72) and Corey Conners (71) were respectively at 139 (-3), 140 (-2) and 141 (-1) after two rounds, on track to take part in the rounds of the weekend.
Their compatriots Mackenzie Hughes (70), Taylor Pendrith (71) and Nick Taylor (71) were virtually eliminated.